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Senate Will Try Again to Pass Marriage Amendment

By David Brody
CBN News- Capital Hill

CBN.com –WASHINGTON – Just like those summer movie blockbusters, ‘marriage, the sequel’ is back. The marriage amendment would add language to the U.S. Constitution defining marriage as between a man and a woman only.

Majority leader Bill Frist (R-TN) said that the Senate will start the debate on the amendment on June 5.

"Marriage is the social glue that unites the two halves of the human race to share in the enterprise of parenting the next generation," said Matt Daniels of the Alliance for Marriage.

Last summer, 48 of 100 senators voted to bring the amendment up for a final vote. That was well short of the 60 they needed. This year they expect some more votes, but realize getting that magical ‘60’ to force a vote would be a challenge.

"As of today, we know that we have a majority in the Senate. We've made progress since the last vote. I believe our momentum will continue to grow," Daniels said.

Critics say the amendment does not have the votes to pass, and have accused Senate Republicans of pandering to the Christian right by holding a vote on this just a few months before the midterm elections. They say that the marriage issue should be left up to the states and not the federal government.

But social conservative groups said they are determined to keep activist judges from controlling the outcome. Already, judges in Georgia and Nebraska have ruled their states' marriage amendments unconstitutional, even though the majority of the people voted for them.

Massachusetts now allows gay marriage, and Connecticut recently became the sixth state to offer some form of legal recognition to same-sex couples.

“The courts are bound and determined to change what we think of as a traditional family," said Sen. Wayne Allard (R-CO).

"We've got to do more than say these are our beliefs,” said Frist. “We've got to say these are the beliefs of the American people. We need to act. If not, we move in the opposite direction."

Liberals say the amendment is like writing discrimination into the Constitution, but the religious leaders who spoke Thursday said it is their biblical beliefs that guide them.

"Same-sex marriage is not directly addressed in any affirming way by the words of Christ and it is simply spoken against in the Old Testament," said Bishop Harry Jackson of Hope Christian Church.

Rev. Joseph Kurtz of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said, "Marriage doesn't originate either from the church or the state, but from God."

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